Apparatus for threading matrix cores

ABSTRACT

A MACHINE FOR THREADING WIRES THROUGH AN ARRAY OF MAGNETIC CORES ON FILLER PLATES OR MATS TO FORM A MEMORY MATRIX HAVING A RECTILLINEARLY RECIPROCATIVE CARRIAGE ON WHICH PLURAL HOLLOW NEEDLES ARE SUPPORTED WITH THEIR AXES IN PARALLELISM AND PORTIONS OF THE NEEDLES PROJECTING BEYOND THE CARRIAGE FOR A DISTANCE ADEQUATE TO SPAN THE FILLER PLATES. THE WIRES EXTEND THROUGH AND PROTRUDE A SHORT DISTANCE BEYOND THE NEEDLES AND ARE MOVED UNITARILY WITH THE NEEDLES AND CARRIAGE THROUGH AN ADVANCE STROKE FEEDING BOTH THE NEEDLES AND WIRES THROUGH PARALLEL ROWS OF THE CORES, AFTER WHICH THE WIRES ARE HELD IN TENSION WHILE THE NEEDLES ARE RETRACTED, LEAVING THE WIRES THREADED THROUGH THE CORES, AND THE CORES ARE CUT ADJACENT THE PROXIMAL EDGE OF THE ARRAY. MEANS ARE PROVIDED FOR ROTATING THE NEEDLES IN AN OSCILLATORY MANNER ABOUT THEIR AXES DURING ADVANCEMENT TO FACILITATE FEEDING THEM THROUGH THE OPENINGS IN THE CORES AND FOR AUTOMATICALLY CLAMPING AND RELEASING THE WIRES RELATIVE TO THE CARRIAGE.

United States Patent [72] Inventor John A. Raickle Hopewell Junction, N .Y. [2]] Appl. No. 830,818 [22] Filed June 5,1969 [45] Patented June 28, 1971 [73] Assignee Industrial Micronics, Incorporated Leesburg, Va.

[54] APPARATUS FOR THREADING MATRIX CORES 14 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 29/203,

29/604 [51] Int. Cl "05k 13/04 [50] Field of Search ..29/203, 203 (MM). 664

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,958,126 11/1960 Shaw et a1 29/203 3,174,214 3/1965 Davis 29/203 3,331,126 7/1967 Fielder et a1 29/203X Primary Examiner- Donald R. Schran Attorney-Mason, Fenwick and Lawrence ABSTRACT: A machine for threading wires through an array of magnetic cores on filler plates or mats to form a memory matrix having a rectilinearly reciprocative carriage on which plural hollow needles are supported with their axes in parallelism and portions of the needles projecting beyond the carriage for a distance adequate to span the filler plates The wires extend through and protrude a short distance beyond the needles and are moved unitarily with the needles and carriage through an advance stroke feeding both the needles and wires through parallel rows of the cores, after which the wires are held in tension while the needles are retracted, leaving the wires threaded through the cores, and the cores are cut adjacent the proximal edge of the array. Means are provided for rotating the needles in an oscillatory manner about their axes during advancement to facilitate feeding them through the openings in the cores and for automatically clamping and releasing the wires relative to the carriage.

PATENTEUJUNZB I9?! sum i or 6 INVENTOK e'ouu A. Rmcxu: m wwq PATENTED JUN28 rem SHEU 3 OF 6 AWN R R N E V m JOHN A. QmcKLe BY xnasmfi wgn&%awwm ATTORNEYS APPARATUS FOR THREADING MATRIX CORES CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLlCATlON This application discloses an improvement in the apparatus disclosed in my earlier application, Ser. No. 783,966, filed Dec. 16, 1968, entitled MATRlX CORE THREADlNG AP- PARATUS.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to apparatus for concurrently threading wires along a plurality of parallel rectilinear paths through aligned holes of small matrix memory cores arranged in parallel rows of plural cores to produce memory matrices for use in electrical and electronic computer devices.

The memory matrices employed in electrical and electronic computer devices comprise a plurality of very small paramagnetic rings, usually referred to as cores, arranged in a common plane so that the openings in the cores are aligned along a set of parallel second axis rows perpendicular to the first axis rows, frequently referred to as the X- and Y-axes of the 7 matrix. The cores are located at the intersections of their respective associated first and second axis rows and arranged perpendicular to the common plane of the matrix, with the cores inclined at an angle of about 45 to the axes of their respective associated first and second axis rows. One or more wires are threaded through these cores in each of the X and Y-axis directions to complete the assembly of the matrix, and frequently, in the so-called bootstr'ap" wired matrices, each of the wires in one direction must be threaded through some of the cores in one row and then through the remainder of the cores in the adjacent parallel row. As the miniaturization of electronic circuit components has progressed, the size of the elements making up such matrices has also been reduced, so that it is not uncommon to have matrix cores wherein the diameter of the hole in the core is approximately 0.020 inch, and each such hole may have four wires threaded therethrough, each having a diameter of about 0.003 inch. Ordinarily, each matrix comprises thousands of such cores.

It has been customary in the past to hand assemble these matrices by manually feeding the wires through the individual cores, using tweezers or guide needles of various constructions. For example, aligned rows of cores have been threaded by passing a hooked needle through the cores, attaching a wire to the hook end of the needle and then withdrawing the needle along a reverse path with the wire attached, or by attaching a wire to the trailing end ofa needle, passing the needle through the cores, and drawing the wire through after the needle. Obviously, such hand assembly of these matrices is an extremely slow, tedious, exacting and costly procedure under the best circumstances, and highly skilled workers are required to perform this work.

Considerable effort has been devoted to development of apparatus which will facilitate the threading of such matrix magnetic cores and reduce the degree of worker's skill, time and cost involved in assembling the matrices. Typical of efforts to solve this persistent problem are the devices shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,126, to Shaw et al., and No. 3,174,214, to Davis. In both of these patents, elongated hollow needles or needlelike tubes having the wires led through the bores of the needles are advanced with the wires from a proximal end of the core array to the distal end thereof, after which the lead end portions of the wires are secured at the distal end against movement and the needles are retracted relative to the wires to withdraw them from the cores. Not only is considerable manual manipulation of the wires required in the Davis device, but a most difficult problem in any such machine for reciprocating multiple needles relative to the cores has been the achievement of reliable feeding of the needle leading ends into the minute holes in the cores with the necessary consistency. It has been found that the proper feeding of the needle leading ends into the holes of the cores can be achieved with much improved reliability by oscillating the elongated needles back and forth about their axes continuously during feeding of the needle carriage toward the cores.

An object of the present invention is the provision of novel apparatus for rapidly and reliably assembling magnetic core matrices by inserting wires into the plurality of parallel rows of magnetic cores, wherein a plurality of elongated hollow nee dles through which the wires are fed are reciprocated rectilinearly relative to the cores through an advance stroke and a return stroke and are continuously oscillated about their axes at least during the advance stroke.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of novel apparatus for rapidly assembling magnetic core matrices by inserting wires into the plurality of parallel rows of magnetic cores, which is capable of threading wires in a wide variety of matrix wiring patterns in both X- and Y-axis directions including bootstrap wiring of matrices, and which insures reliable proper feeding of the wires through the matrix cores over long periods of use.

Other objects, advantages and capabilities of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONOF THE FIGURES FIGS. 1A and 1B collectively form a side elevation of matrix core threading apparatus embodying the present invention, with parts broken away to reveal details thereof;

' FlGS. 2A and 2B collectively form a top plan view ofthe apparatus;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the apparatus as viewed from the right of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the filler plates in which the cores are supported during threading thereof;

FIG. 5 is a vertical transverse section view through the mounting assembly for oscillating the needles, taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2A; I

FIG. 6 is a vertical section view, taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the mounting assembly for oscillating the needles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several FIGS., the apparatus of the present invention, indicated in general by the reference character 15, is designed to facilitate the rapid production of a magnetic core matrice by advancing wires along X-axis rows and then along Y-axis rows through a plurality of annular magnetic cores, indicated 16, in FIG. 4, when the cores have been supportedin a common matrix plane on a suitable core supporting base, such as the filler plate 17. The filler plate 17 is formed of rigid, nonconductive material such as an insulative or dielectric plastic, having a substantially rectangular perimeter and an upper surface 18 provided with a plurality of concave cavities or recesses 19, corresponding in number and locatingto the magnetic cores 16 to be present in the final matrix assembly. The cavities 19 have the configuration of a shallow cylindrical segment to receive a lower portion of the magnetic cores l6 and support them in planes perpendicular to the plane of the surface 18. The. upper surface 18 of the filler plate 17 may be otherwise flat, or may have a plurality of guide grooves of selected depth extending parallel to the X-axis of the matrix and a second group of parallel guide grooves extendingparallel to the Y-axis of the matrix and having a somewhat greater depth than the X-axis guide grooves intercepting the cavities to assist in guiding the wires and needles. The cavities 19 being oriented so as to dispose the cores 16 at an angle of about 45 to the X- and Y-axes of the matrix, the top surface of the plate, or the base surface of each guide groove, if used, is spaced a sufficient distance above the lowermost points of the cavities 19 to register wires being fed along these surfaces with the hole or central opening in each of the cores. Each cavity has a vacuum port 20 extending from its lowermost point through the filler plate 17 to the bottom side thereof, so that upon application of vacuumor suction pressure to the bottom side of the tiller plate 17, as will be later described, the cores 16 will be held within their respective cavities 19.

The matrix core threading apparatus 15, which is generally illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 13, 2A and 2B, and 3, comprises a baseplate 23 having a filler plate supporting assembly, generally indicated at 24, located near one end thereof, and a needle reciprocating assembly, generally indicated at 25, arranged in selected lateral alignment with the filler plate supporting assembly for feeding hollow needles and wires into the cores 16 disposed on the filler plate 17. The assembly 25 comprises upright posts 26 supporting a pair of elongated rectilinear guide rods 27 in a horizontal plane above the baseplate 23, which extend through and form supporting tracks for slidable bearing members 28 depending from a base platform or carriage plate 29 of an elongated needle carriage 30. Depending from the bottom side of the base platform 29 along one edge thereof is an elongated rack 31, the teeth of which mesh with a drive pinion 32 on a shaft 33 journaled in and extending through an upright bearing post 34 and having a manual operating knob 35 fixed to the shaft 33 and outwardly of the bearing post 34 for reciprocating the needle carriage 30 through advance and return strokes along a precise rectilinear path governed by the guide rods 27.

The base platform 29 has a flat horizontal upper surface 36 which is spaced downwardly a slight distance below the plane of the horizontal upper surface of the filler plate 17. A plurality of elongated hollow needles 38, corresponding in number to the number of rows in one filler plate 17, are supported on the carriage platform 29 at locations spaced apart a major portion of the length of the needles, with the needles 38 arranged in parallelism in a plane aligned with the plane of the upper surface of filler plates 17 and extending from a location adjacent the left hand or trailing end of thecarriage plate 29, as viewed in FIGS. 1A and 1B, and 2A and 28, to a projected position beyond the right hand or leading end thereof. The needles 38 form elongated hollow tubes whose internal diameter corresponds closely to the outer diameter of the wire to be threaded through the cores 16, for example, wire having a diameter of 0.003 inch, and in the preferred embodiment may be formed of stainless steel tubing 38:: having a length of about 2 feet, and inside diameter of about 0.004 inch and an outside diameter of about 0.006 inch and having a tubular stainless steel shank 38b of about 0.006 inch internal diameter, about 0.015 inch outer diameter, and an axial length of about 1% inches shrunk or otherwise secured on the tubing 380 near the trailing end ofthe needle.

The needles 38 are supported on the carriage platform 29 near the rear or trailing ends of the needles by a rear needle mounting assembly 40. The base platform 29 in the region of the mounting assembly is drilled to provide lateral spaced upwardly opening cylindrical sockets 41 near the opposite lateral edges thereof, each having a threaded constricted bore extension at the center thereof. An annular wear plate 42 having a flat upper surface is seated in each of these sockets 41 and held therein by a mounting screw 43 of special form having a head 43a spaced a short distance from the lower end thereof to fit in a countersunk opening in the associated wear plate 42 when the lower portion of the screw is threaded into the tapped bore extension of the socket 41. The upwardly projecting shank portion 43b of each screw 43 rising from the head 4311 forms a spindle or post adjacent each side of the platform 29 for the remainder of the mounting assembly 40. Assembled on each of the shank portions 43b are lower thrust bearings 44 having bearing spheres which are in rolling contact with the upper face of the associated wear plate 42 and project slightly above the plane of the upper surface of carriage platform 29 to support the lowermost of a pair of oscillating plates 45, .46, mounted one above the other in crosswise spanning relation to the platform 29. Each of these plates 45, 46, have elongated slots 45a, 460 through which the shank portions 43b pass, to

accommodate reciprocatory movement of the plates 45, 46 crosswise of the platform, and each have recessed central regions in their confronting faces which house contact blocks 45b, 46b of rubber or other resilient material to engage the surfaces of the needle shanks 38b and cause the needles to rotate about their axes. Overlying and engaging the top surface of upper oscillating plate 46 are thrust bearings 47 having spheres in rolling contact with the upper face of plate 46 and the lower face of holddown plate 48 apertured to fit into the shank portions 43b and resiliently biased downwardly by springs 48a retained on the shank portions 43b by nuts 43c threaded on the upper portions ofthe shanks 43b.

The oscillating plates 45, 46 are guided in rectilinear reciprocative paths by angle shaped guide members 49 having horizontal flanges 49a bearing on the surface of platform 29 and secured thereto by screws and vertical flanges 4911 which support locating plates 50 fixed by screws thereto and located between the flanges 49b and the adjacent edges of the oscillating plates 45, 46. The plates 50 are provided with a series of vertical slots 50a opening through the upper edges thereof, for example, about 0.015 inch wide and spaced 0.030 on centers, to receive and properly locate the opposite end regions of the needle shanks 38b, while the flanges 49b are similarly provided with slots 49c opening through their upper edges, for ex ample, having a width of 0.010 inch and also spaced'0.030 on centers, to receive and locate the needle tube portions 38a immediately adjacent the ends of the shank 38b. These slotted plates 50 and flanges 4% thus support the needles 38 in proper side-by-side relation to each other spaced along parallel axes aligned with the rows of the cores on the tiller plates, and because the shank 38b of the needles are held against axial movement relative to the carriage platform 29 between the flanges 49b whose slots are sized to pass the needle tubes, but not the shanks, cause the needles to be advanced and retracted axially with the carriage platform. The oscillating plates 45, 46 are driven in their oscillatory paths by cams or cranklike formations 51a on the shaft of electric motor 51 carried by a supporting frame 51b, for example, of plexiglass, on the platform 29, the cams 51a being disposed in elongated holes 45c, 460 in the plates 45, 46.

The wires, indicated collectively at 52, to be fed through the bores of the hollow needles 38, are led through a wire guide block, such as that indicated at 53, fixed to the carriage plate 29 at the trailing end thereof and through selective clamping means which clamp the wires to move with the platform 29 during the advance stroke and release them during the return stroke. This may take the form illustrated in my copending application Ser. No. 783,966, wherein the wires 52 are led beneath overlying pinch roll 54 into the bores of the needles 38 at the ends thereof adjacent the shanks 38b, from suitable supply spools, diagrammatically indicated at 52a having conventional clutch discs 52a for applying a selected frictional force to the spools to maintain the wires under slight tension. A sufficient length of wire is paid off the spools through the wire guide block 53 and between the pinch roll 54 and a block or elevated surface portion of plate 29 therebeneathinto each of the needles and project a very short distance beyond the leading ends of the needles through which they are fed. The pinch roll 54is journaled in upright bearing members 540 having slightly vertically elongated journal openings for the trunnions of the pinch roll to accommodate a slight amount of vertical movement of the pinch roll. A resiliently biased bearing pin 54b is housed in a suitable recess in each of the bearing members above the trunnions of the pinch roll to bear downwardly upon the trunnions and bias the pinch roll downwardly to driving surface engagement with the wires leading to the needles. A vertically movable cam pin 54c extends through a vertical axis bore in each of the bearing members to bear upwardly against the trunnions, and is resiliently biased downwardly to expose a circumferential groove therein below the bottom of the base platform 29. Mounted against the underside of the platform 29 and alongside the lower portion of the cam pin 540 is a spring loaded slide lock 55 having a nose portion which terminates in a concave surface adapted to interfit in a portion of the groove in pin 54c when the groove registers therewith. Stationary tripping blocks 56 fixed on the baseplate 23 andhaving inclined cam surfaces 560 at the upper end thereof are so located along the line of travel of 5 the cam pins 546 as to engage the cam pins when the carriage 30 reaches the forwardmost limit of its advance stroke and lift the cam pins, to thereby raise the pinch roll 54 out of engagement with the wires and align the grooves in pins 540 with the slide locks 55 which then enter the grooves and latch the cam pins in raised position until the carriage 30 returns fully to the retracted limit position at the end of its return stroke. At this retracted limit position, release blocks 57 likewise fixed on the baseplate 23, have tongue portions 57a which engage the slide locks 55 and force them out of the grooves of the cam pins 540 and release these pins to their lower positions, allowing the pinch roll 54 to again bear on the wires 52.

A forward guide member 58 for the needles 38 is mounted on the carriage plate 29 at the leading end thereof, which may, if desired, be a duplicate of the mounting assembly 40 or more simply may comprise an angle member having a horizontal flange 59a to be fixed to the carriage platform 29 and a verti cal flange 59b in the form ofa comb having upwardly opening slots 590 similar to the slots 490 in flanges 49b, also sized to receive and rotatably support the needles at positions spaced a selected distance back from the leading ends of the needles. Any suitable holddown piece, such as bar 60 removably mounted on the flange 59b, may be provided to retain the needles in the slots 59c. Since the shanks 38b near the trailing end portions of the needles are held against relative axial movement with respect to the platform 29 by the flanges 49b forwardly and rearwardly abutting the ends of the needle shanks, the needles are carried with the platform 29 through the advance and return strokes relative to the filler plates.

As disclosed in my said earlier application, adjacent the leading end portion of the needle carriage plate and overlying a portion of the filler plate supporting assembly is a bridge structure 61 comprising an upper horizontal crosspiece 62 extending transversely across the apparatus and vertical supporting posts 63 at the opposite ends thereof having foot plates 64 secured to their lower ends and slidably bearing on the upper surface of the baseplate 23. The foot plates 64 project towards the trailing end of the carriage from the posts 63 and have a mounting screw and slot connection with the baseplate to support the bridge structure 61 for a limited range of movement, for example, about 1 inch, longitudinally of the baseplate. The forward or extended position of the bridge structure 61 is determined by adjustable stop members 65 having stop pins to be engaged by the posts of the bridge structure at the forward limit position of the bridge and having slots 65b through which mounting screws extend into the baseplate to adjust the stop members 65. The bridge structure 61 is linked to the base platform 29 for movement of the carriage 30 relative thereto while maintaining proper alignment of these components relative to each other by rigid elongated straps 66 fixed to the cross piece 62 of the bridge structure and extending toward the trailing end of the carriage 30 immediately beneath the latter, having elongated slots 66a therein whose length cor responds to thelength of the desired stroke of the carriage 30 plus the range of movement of the bridge structure permitted by the slots in the foot plates 64.

The crosspiece 62 of the bridge structure 61 in the middle region thereof rigidly supports a needle guide member 67 fixed therebeneath, designed to span the space between the leading end of the carriage 30 and the filler plate supporting assembly 24 to support the leading end portions of the needles 38 over the space between these components against distortion or deviation from their assigned rectilinear axes while permitting axial reciprocative movement of the needles during the advance and return strokes. The needle guide member 67 is supported in depending relation from the crosspiece 62 by bolts and alignment pins, indicated generally at 670, and have cylindrical bores therethrough aligned with the needles 38 and sized to support the needles in proper alignment for rotary and axial movement therein. The needle guide member 67 has an upwardly opening vertical slot 68 intercepting the needle path and a knife 69 pivotally supported on a mounting block 70 fixed on the crosspiece 62 for cutting the wires when the carriage and needles are in fully retracted position as disclosed in my said earlier application.

The filler plate supporting assembly 24, which is located in the right-hand region of the apparatus as viewed in FIG. 2B is designed to support four filler plates 17, as illustrated in FIG. 2B and provide for precise angular adjustment and vertical adjustment, as well as translation of the filler plates along the X- and Y-axes, and also to optionally provide for micrometer controlled displacement of the pair of filler plates, for example, the plates 17a, 17a", to one side of the transverse center axis of the assembly 24 relative to the other pair of filler plates 17b, 17b", as disclosed more fully in my earlier application, Ser. No. 783,966. This supportingassembly 24 comprises a rotatably stage unit 75 having a stage plate 75' journaled in the baseplate 23 for rotation about a vertical center axis and having a series of peripheral notches coactive with a spring loaded locating pin to establish the angular position of the stage plate. Supported on the rotatably stage unit 75 is a first axis guide frame assembly 77 and a second axis guide frame assembly 78 supporting a vacuum box 79 for rectilinear reciprocative adjustment along axes at right angles to each other.

The vacuum box 79 has internal fluid ducts therein, indicated at 79a, terminating at one end in a vacuum inlet port for communication to a conduit leading to a suction source (not shown) and opening at the other end through the top surface of the vacuum box 79. Removably mounted on the vacuum box 79 is any one of a plurality of interchangeable heads, generally indicated at 80, properly positioned on the vacuum box by locating pins 81, for example, at the four corners thereof, extending through vertical openings in the head 80 and aligned sockets in the vacuum box 79. The reason for making the heads 80 interchangeable is to permit heads of various types to be mounted on the vacuum box 79 to support filler plates in different ways for different types of operation.

One form of head which may be used is illustrated in FIGS. 1B and 2B and designated by the reference character 82, and has an upwardly opening cavity 82a opening through the upper face thereof of substantially rectangular configuration of an appropriate size to extend beneath four filler plates 17 spaced in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2B and having a port communicating the cavity 82a with the ducts 79a of the vacuum box 79. A rabbet is formed along the perimeter of the cavity 82a to receive and support the edges of a removable panel 82b having four rectangular openings therein, which may also have rabbeted perimeters, to receive and support the filler plates 17 and communicate the vacuum ports 20 thereof with the cavity 82a to permit application of suction from the vacuum box 79 thereto. As will be observed from FIG. 28, with the head 82, the four filler plates 17 are arranged in a pattern which forms two X-axis rows and two Y-axis rows.

In the operation of the apparatus, the filler plates 17 with cores seated in their cavities 19, are positioned in the appropriate stations therefor on the head 80 of the filler plate supporting assembly 24, vacuum is applied to their lower surfaces through vacuum box 79 to hold them securely in place on the head, and the first or upper row of filler plates 17a, 17b, as viewed in FIG. 2B, are properly aligned with the needle path by adjustment of the knobs of the guide frame assemblies 77, 78. The needles 38 are assembled on the needle carriage 30 by inserting their shanks in the space between the oscillating plates 45-, 46, with their ends in the slots of locating plates 50 constrained between the vertical flanges of angle guide members 49, with the tubing portions 380 of the needles disposed in the forward guide member 58 at a location along the needles such that the leading ends of the needles will be positioned slightly to the right of or beyond the right-hand edge of the right-hand filler plate 17a, as viewed in FIG. 2B,

when the carriage is at the forward or advanced limit position. The wires 52 are inserted through the openings in the wire guide bar 53 and beneath the pinch roll 54, with the pinch roll in raised condition, and are led through the needles 38 until their leading ends project a selected short distance beyond the leading ends of the needles, after which the pinch roll 54 is lowered to hold the wires against the carriage plate 29 for travel with the carriage and needles toward the assembly 24.

With the filler plates 17a, 17b precisely aligned with the needles 38 so that the needles will pass through the openings in the cores forming the respective X-axis rows, the motor 51 is energized to commence oscillation of the plates 45, 46, and thus oscillatory rotation of the needles 38 and the carriage 30 is moved through its advance or threading stroke by manipulation of the knob 35, the pinion 32 connected therewith driving the rack 31 and the carriage 30 through the advance stroke. The oscillatory rotation of the needles back and forth about their respective axes, for example through about 90 in each direction, imparted to them by the reciprocating plates 45, 46, driven by the motor 51 rotating, for example, at about 1,200 rpm, during the advancement of the carriage 30 toward the tiller plate supporting assembly 24 causes the leading ends of the needles to be reliably fed into the small holes in the cores of the respective rows aligned with the needles to a considerably greater degree than would be the case if no such rotation of the needles occurred. When the carriage 30 reaches its advance limit position projecting the needles through the cores of the X-axis rows of the filler plates aligned with the needle path, the protruding leading end portions of the wires 52, which overlie the right-hand border region of the head 80, as viewed in FIG. 2B, are then secured in any suitable manner, as by applying a strip of pressure sensitive tape over the protruding wire portion and against the adjacent surface of the head, and the carriage 30 is then withdrawn to the retracted limit position by reverse manipulation of the knob 35.

It 'will be noted that when the carriage 30 reached the projected limit position, the cam pins 540 associated with the crimp roll bearings 54a engaged the inclined ramp surfaces 56a of the tripping blocks 56, raising the pinch roll 54 out of contact with the wires 52 and thus releasing the wires so that they will not be withdrawn by movement of the carriage in the carriage return direction during the return stroke. The slide locks 55 engaging the grooves in the cam pins 540 maintain the cam pins in raised position throughout the return stroke of the carriage. When the carriage 30 reaches the retracted limit position, however, the slide locks 55 are engaged by the tongue portions 570 of the release blocks 57 to withdraw the slide locks from the grooves and the cam pins 54c are spring returned to their lower position allowing the pinch roll 54 again to fall into engagement with the wires 52 to clamp them against the top plates 36 and cause them to be led through the advance stroke with the needles 38 during the next advance stroke of the carriage.

When the carriage 30 assumes the retracted limit position, the leading ends of the needles are spaced toward the trailing end from the slot 68 in the needle guide member 67 a distance corresponding to the desired wire length to be left protruding from the leading ends ofthe needles, while the leading ends of the needles are still located in the guide bores of the needle guide member 67. The knife 69 is then lowered to cut the wires, and the bridge 61 is manually retracted toward the trailing end of the carriage 30 to expose the proximal end portions of the wires which have already been threaded through the cores to permit them to be secured to the head 80 by pressure sensitive tape or other suitable securing means.

The adjusting knob for the guide frame assembly 77 may then be rotated to translate the head in the Y-axis direction to locate the next X-axis row of filler plates 17a", 17b" in alignment with the needle path and the previously described procedure repeated to thread the cores on this row of filler plates.

Following threading of the bores-in the X-axis direction, cutting of the wires, and taping of the Y ends to the head, the rotation stage 75 is then rotated through 90 or other desired angles and the stage 75 is adjusted to vertically lower the head a distance appropriate to displace the wires that have already been threaded through the cores below the plane along which the next set of wires and needles will be advanced during the next threading stroke of the carriage and thus avoid contact of the needles during such subsequent stroke with the wires already in the cores. Then, the carriage advancing and retracting procedure previously described is repeated in the Y-axis direction relative to the filler plates to complete threading of the matrix cores.

It will be apparent that a machine like that herein disclosed but having only a single needle 38 on the platform 29, can be used to thread a wire in any desired pattern through the cores along diagonal axis inclined 45 to the X- and Y-axes by rotating the stage 75 to the appropriate 45 position and adjusting the knobs for the frame assemblies 77 and 78 to shift different groups of cores aligned with each other along the diagonal axes into alignment with the single needle and reciprocating the needle through its advance and return stroke. The wire can be cut when the carriage is returned to its retracted limit position, or can be taped down without cutting and the tiller plates shifted transversely to align other diagonally aligned sets of cores with the needle for a subsequent threading stroke, as may be desired.

lclaim:

1. Apparatus for threading wires through annular cores in a core array to form a memory matrix, comprising core support means for supporting a plurality of the cores in an array at a selected horizontal plane with the cores disposed in a first set of parallel rows and a second set of parallel rows intersecting the first rows, each core being common to two intersecting rows, an elongated horizontal carriage platform spaced laterally from said array having leading and trailing ends respectively adjacent and remote from said array and supported for rectilinear reciprocative movement through advance and return strokes relative to the array along a stroke axis paralleling one of said sets of rows, a plurality of elongated hollow axially rectilinear needles for threading wires through the cores, needle support means for supporting said needles in axial parallelism on said platform for rotary movement about their respective axes in respective axial alignment with the rows of one of said sets with leading end portions of said needles projecting beyond said platform toward the array a distance to span the length of the row aligned therewith, means for moving said platform and the needles supported thereon through said advance and return strokes over a distance progressing the leading ends of the needles through the length of said rows, said needle support means including driven oscillating means for imparting oscillatory rotation to said needles rotating them back and forth about their axes during movement of the platform and needles through said advance stroke, means for supplying a continuous wire through each .of the respective needles to dispose leading wire portions within the needles adjacent the leading ends thereof, and means for advancing the leading wire portions with said needles through said advance stroke.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said means for advancing said leading wire portions includes releaseable wire clamping means on said platform for clamping the wires rearwardly of said needles against movement relative to the platform to advance the wires with the platform during the advance stroke and for releasing the wires for movement of the platform and needles relative to the wires during the return stroke.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said oscillatory means is driven continuously throughout the advance stroke of said platform and concurrently rotates said needles back and forth throughout the advance stroke.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said oscillating means includes a pair of rectilinear reciprocative oscillating .motor means for continuously driving said plates in opposite directions along rectilinear reciprocative paths for concurrently rotatably oscillating said needles about their axes throughout movement of said platform through said advance stroke.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said needles have external enlarged cylindrical portions concentric with the needle axes engaging said oscillating plates, and said support means includes restraining members having confronting shoulders bearing against opposite ends of said cylindrical portions to restrain said needles against axial movement relative to the platform while accommodating rotary movement of the needles about their axes.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said restraining members comprise vertical plate formations extending in parallelism to the reciprocative paths of said plates having upwardly opening, laterally spaced, slots therein sized to accommodate therein the portions of said needles outwardly flanking the opposite ends of said cylindrical portions and having a dimension smaller than the diameter of said cylindrical portion.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, including needle guide means occupying a stationary position during movement of the platform having guide surfaces in sliding engagement with the needles in a zone between said platform and the array to support the needles against deviation from their normal rectilinear paths.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 4 including needle guide means occupying a stationary position during movement of the platform having guide surfaces in sliding engagement with the needles in a zone between said platform and the array to support the needles against deviation from their normal rectilinear paths.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 5 including needle guide means occupying a stationary position during movement of the platform having guide surfaces in sliding engagement with the needles in a zone between said platform and the array to support the needles against deviation from their normal rectilinear paths.

10. Apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein said needle guide means comprises a stationary guide block having elongated bores therethrough for slidably receiving said needles and supporting the same in selected paths during said advance and return strokes, said guide block having a knife slot therein, communicating with said bores transversely spanning and intercepting the paths traversed by said wires and needles, and said knife blade being movable in said prescribed plane from a first position spaced from said bores to a second position in said knife slot for cutting the wires extending through said bores.

11. Apparatus as defined in claim 8, wherein said needle guide means comprises a stationary guide block having elongated bores therethrough for slidably receiving said needles and supporting the same in selected paths during said advance and return strokes, said guide block having a knife slot therein, communicating with said bores transversely spanning and intercepting the paths traversed by said wires and needles, and said knife blade being movable in said prescribed plane from a first position spaced from said bores to a second position in said knife slot for cutting the wires extending through said bores.

12. Apparatus as defined in claim 9, wherein said needle guide means comprises a stationary guide block having elongated bores therethrough for slidingly receiving said needles and supporting the same in selected paths during said advance and return strokes, said guide block having a knife slot therein, communicating with said bores transversely spanning and intercepting the paths traversed by said wires and needles, and said knife blade being movable in said prescribed plane from a first position spaced from said bores to a second position in said nlfe slot for cutting the wires extending through said bores.

13. Apparatus as defined in claim 10, wherein said bores in said guide block have entrance portions confronting said platform spaced toward the platform from said knife slot a sufficient distance to locate leading end portions of the needle in said entrance portions when said platform occupies its return limit position.

14. Apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein said bores in said guide block have entrance portions confronting said platform spaced toward the platform from said knife slot a sufficient distance to locate leading end portions of the needle in said entrance portions when said platform occupies its return limit position. 

